Pile of evidence slows probe in Spain

Though U.S. seeks 8 suspects, work to delay process

December 01, 2001|By Michael Martinez, Tribune staff writer.

MADRID — The investigation of eight men alleged to be members of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network could last more than a year as authorities have only begun examining hundreds of documents, videos and other materials seized during recent arrests, officials said Friday.

A day after Spain's prime minister visited the White House and said he was open to considering an extradition request by the United States, Spanish authorities said their investigation was far from complete.

If the United States were to seek the extradition of the eight men, who are mostly Syrians, U.S. investigators would find much work at hand, including sorting through cartons of the eight men's belongings to find other links to Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"There are 100 boxes that we have to go through," said Juan Cotino, director of the Spanish National Police. "We don't know how long the second phase [of the investigation] is going to last."

Under Spanish law, authorities can hold the eight men as long as four years before a trial must be held, said prosecutor Pedro Rubira.

Spanish officials had recently said that they would not extradite the suspected terrorists unless the United States promised not to try them in military tribunals being planned by President Bush and not to seek the death penalty, which is not allowed in Spain.

That position was something of a setback for U.S. officials. The U.S. government has not formally requested extradition of the suspects, who allegedly had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Leader wants to cooperate

But Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Thursday that he wanted to cooperate with U.S. officials and would consider extraditing the men "if and when the United States requests that extradition."

Human-rights groups have urged Aznar to continue to insist on no military trials and no death sentences.

The case against the eight men, led by Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, or "Abu Dahdah," rests on an accusation that Yarkas' Madrid phone number was found in the address book of Mohamed Atta.

Atta, who was Yarkas' roommate in Hamburg, Germany, is believed to have been one of the leaders of the Sept. 11 hijackings that killed thousands of people.

The other chief accusation is that Yarkas held a series of phone conversations in code with a bin Laden operative known as Shakur and that their cryptic conversations circumstantially reveal discussion of the attacks before and after they occurred.

On Friday, a source close to the investigation provided an official interpretation of the code language used by Yarkas and Shakur in their calls, which an arrest order described as "authentic premonition of the ensuing events" of Sept. 11.

Authorities on Friday acknowledged that the cryptic exchanges are open to many interpretations, which defense attorneys are expected to try to leverage to their advantage.

Shakur indicated that bin Laden operatives were studying U.S. flight schedules in preparation for the attacks when he said on Aug. 27, "in class, we have gone into the field of aviation." He added that "we have even slit the bird's throat"; the bird is a reference to the eagle, a U.S. symbol, the source said.

Cryptic talks after attacks

After the attacks, Yarkas refers to police as "doctors" when he tells Shakur on Sept. 26 that "I am a little sick, that the doctors have gone to visit a sick person and they wanted to visit [another] as well," according to the source.

On Sept. 29, Yarkas refers again to a police crackdown when he says he is feeling tired "because there had been a little illness, although it is better than where Shakur is, that winter had set in and it was cold."

Shakur, whose full name is not known by the authorities, is believed to have been in London, another suspected Al Qaeda hub, the source said.

Spanish authorities clarified Friday a remark made by Aznar in which he said that Madrid's eight-man cell was "working under the orders of bin Laden's No. 2."

While analysts offer varying assessments of who is second in command to bin Laden, Spanish authorities said Aznar was referring to Anwar Adnan Mohamed Saleh, also known as Chej Salah and Abu Saleh, who started the Soldiers of Allah cell in Madrid in the early 1990s and later moved to Pakistan.